Star Trek (pilot) – 1964

2015/08/01

Before Star Trek was a fully fledged religion, a multimedia behemoth spanning 5 show, 12 films (and counting), books, video games and the like, it was an unproven, vulnerable and daring concept. The pilot, retitled « The Cage » was rejected as a pilot for being too cerebral and low on action, but nearly 50 years on, this stand-alone episode could well be one of the finest science fiction films ever made, never mind the glorious retro-kitsch masterpiece it equally qualifies as.

Fantastic Planet – 1973

2015/07/24

What is it about the 70s and film? Perhaps it is the serendipitous mix of new hard drugs and a more adventurous, curious market that meant filmmakers were given more freedom to experiment. Freedom, drugs and adventure were undoubtedly all essential components of René Laloux’s « La Planète Sauvage », a frighteningly Orwellian nightmare visualized as futuristic Hieronymus Bosch works in motion. The technique is dated, but the look and story are still uniquely effective, as is the dispassionate cruelty on display. One of the finest science-fiction parables out there.

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid – 1973

2015/07/10

Sam Peckinpah’s place in History is secure for The Wild Bunch alone – the violent epic that invented the exit wound squib and used more ammo than the Mexican revolution. But his finest, most haunting work is this follow-up, starring James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson and scored by Bob Dylan. The quiet scenes between the bouts of mayhem have a deep sense of waste, tragedy and loss that few films have equaled since.

The Bounty – 1984

2015/07/02

The best way this story has been told on screen, Roger Donaldson’s The Bounty stars an improbable array of superstars: Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson in his prime, Daniel Day Lewis and Liam Neeson. Add in music by Vangelis to remind you that this was made in the 80s, not that you’d notice otherwise from the excellent tech standards and script, the latter having originally been developed for the legendary David Lean by Lawrence of Arabia screenwriter Robert Bolt. You can definitely feel the suffocating heat and the impending insanity.

The Killers – 1964

2015/06/20

This week, our recommended film is Don Siegel’s hard-as-nails Hemingway riff The Killers, starring Lee Marvin and Clu Ghalager on top form, and a surprisingly vicious Ronald Reagan. it’s great pulpy fun, lean and mean. For an even more complete experience, make it a double-bill with the earlier, more « respectable » Burt Lancaster version.

General Idi Amin Dada, A Self-Portrait – 1974

2015/06/08

This week’s choice is strongly influenced by our recent travels. Barbet Schroeder’s suicidal documentary is basically a home movie of one of Africa’s strangest post-independence dictators, Idi Amin: half-clown, half-monster, this sub-Saharan Saddam with a towering ego somehow approved the project and gave the cameras unrestricted access, and the result is electrifying. Given how media-savvy people are today, it is unlikely any despot will commit the same mistake again. See it. It is as hilarious as it is terrifying.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind – 1984

2015/05/27

We’ve got a thing for long titles this month, as well as strong female characters. Nausicaa, however, is far removed from Mad Max’s Furiosa or Alien’s Ripley. She is a thoughtful, luminous being, a celebration of humanity at its best, wrapped in what is, if not Miyazaki’s greatest masterpiece, then at the very least his first. It’s a beautiful, epic eco-fable, and the animation has not aged a day, let alone three decades.

Mad Max: Fury Road – 2015

2015/05/20

George Miller’s return to his insane dystopia is exactly what it promised to be, no more, no less. And that is a very good thing. In an age of overlong, personality-free blockbusters that spoon-feed their audiences, Fury Road is a refreshing sight indeed. Throwing exposition to the wind, it plunges you headfirst into a hyperactive bleached hell full of grotesques, percussion and violence, a cinematic Dante’s Inferno, with Charlize Theron’s kick-ass Furiosa (not our protagonist, but definitely our hero) playing Virgil to Tom Hardy’s solid and understated Max. It might amount to little more than a sustained action scene, but if so, it’s the best one we’ve seen in a very long time, and the most fun we’ve had at the movies in a decade.

The Dance of Reality – 2013

2015/05/06

Surrealist prodigy Alejandro Jodorowsky marks his long-awaited return to fiction filmmaking with this very loose autobiography, and delivers probably his best, certainly his most touching film. Like all his work, it’s delirious, hugely inventive, and largely unconcerned with subtlety or political correctness. Like his other films also, it is mostly a take on the mythical hero’s journey, one whose strangely poetic sights – a chorus of maimed soldiers, an opera-singing mother, and of course, countless clowns – coalesce into a truly unforgettable experience. We’ve missed you, Maestro. Please give us more.

The Naked Prey – 1966

2015/04/24

Prepare yourself for an intense ride. The « guy’s worst day ever » sub-genre which graced us with such pearls as Falling Down and Apocalypto very likely traces its origins to this hard-boiled adventure flick. Beyond a primitive lack of political correctness that betrays its age, this is a lean, mean and terribly efficient little film, high-concept at its finest. Unlike its delirious descendant Apocalypto, it mixes a certain breadth and scope to the trill of the chase, so you don’t feel the exhaustion of a 90 minute sustained action sequence. All in all, something quite unique in the landscape of world cinema.